Hi all,
Ok so I started my raw food journey officially yesterday. Ive been reading about it for a few weeks and was a bit nervous, but decided yesterday to give it a go. So yesterday was day 1 and 100% raw and actually really good. I know its early days but Ive read so much about all the great benefits I could really use some of that. Unlike some of the posts I dont have major health issues that have forced me into this but I seriously need to loose some weight, and as a working Mum with four kids could seriously do with more energy. I really just wanted to come in here to try and find some support. My family are supportive but not overly interested in giving it a go -and I suspect think Im a little weird for wanting to eat only raw food (LOL) but its not the first thing Ive done they thought was weird -I have been attuned to reiki level 2 and when I started my reiki they thought that was strange now they love it, so I live in hope I can influence their attitudes to eating more healthily too.
I am enjoying the food -everything is really tasty!! But woke up this morning feeling very thirsty,and I had the shakes?! I figure it must be a detoxing thing? It was strange but after a couple of glasses of water and my breakfast smoothie I felt much better. So I look forward to meeting you in here and thanks for sharing all your stories -they give me inspiration and strength!
Much love

Thirsty? That's your body telling you it needs more water. It'll be flushing your system of yucky stuff, so that's great. That you felt better after drinking shows that you are in touch and able to listen to what your body is telling you it needs. Fantastic!

I trust you'll start experiencing some good results soon. I look forward to hearing how it is going for you.


My favorite raw vegan

I am a raw food newbie as well. I have noticed a huge differance in the amount of energy I have within this first week alone. I am wondering how you are doing since your first post was only the first day. My skin has also made dramatic improvements and I thought this would take longer, but maybe doing a cleanse before switching to raw foods was the way to go... I had moderate acne and now my skin is so smooth and the circles under my eyes are fading.. who knew you didn't need all those creams and concealors? Just fresh food! haha.

Anyways, I am in the same boat as you and this is all new to me, Everyone's body is different and it's awesome to see how other's are doing. It's a great support system here and I wish you the best of luck. Please let us know how it's coming a long.

Thanks Trive -yeah Ive been drinking heaps and I havent had the shakes or anything since then. Maybe all that healthy food was just a shock to the system LOL!
Hi BlackKat - Im doing well, thanks. Actually its been so much easier than I thought it would. Especially because I have a family and they still eat normally and I am still preparing most of their meals as well, but it hasnt been a problem. I'm really enjoying the food, everything tastes so good. In terms of the other things Ive noticed I do have much more energy than normal, I dont feel tired all the time, I seem to be able to concentrate better and as silly as it sounds I feel really happy. Im not normally an unhappy person but this is like Im almost giddy Im so happy -does that make sense to anyone else? It seems a little weird to me but it is what it is. My skin is still crap at the moment -no worse but definately no better than it was before. But I'm ok with that -I see this as a lifesytle change and so I can afford to wait. Considering how long I've been putting rubbish into my body I am expecting it will take a bit longer than a week to see real results but Im happy for you and looking forward to experiencing it myself.
I want to do a proper cleanse/fast but I am still breastfeeding my baby so I need to wait until she's done first. I was also thinking of maybe trying a course of colonics? because thats sometihng I could do now and Ive read some interesting information about them but have never tried it and am a little nervous about the process. Has anyone else tried them? Is it really uncomfortable? And what were the benefits or differences that you noticed after them?

Yes, it does make sense because it happened to ME and lots of other people too. Like you, I am a normally happy person, but since going raw, I am always just that little bit happier and sometimes giddy, like you say. Hee hee. What fun!


What is surprising to me is that I always used to think that people who were moody or slightly depressed just needed therapy. Despite still being a big believer in the benefits of counseling and therapy for everyone, I now think that before going that route, the FIRST thing for people to do is to eat a raw food diet and see how much it helps!


My favorite raw vegan

Ok so it's been two and a half weeks and Ive been reading lots (including a variety of postings on here) and was starting to miss the texture of cooked food if that makes sense. I love the crunchiness of the raw foods and have experiemented with my salads to get combinations of textures as well as flavours but I had a bit of cooked rice mixed in with my salad the other day. Now I know 70% or more is considered raw and one cup of rice in two weeks means I was still doing really well, but I started to feel really guilty about it. Like the kind of feelings I used to feel if I ate a packet of biscuits for example. I felt this way for several hours before I kind of realised what I was doing and how stupid it was, I mean seriously one cup of rice isnt going to kill me, its not really bad for my health and its nothing to freak out over. So I'm trying to relax a little more on the whole cooked food issue - just to clarify Im definately still raw but am trying to be more relaxed about whether or not Im 100% raw. As a result I had the nicest warm pumpkin salad for dinner last night, absolutely deliscious! It might seem a strange thing to post about but I cant believe how worked up I got myself over a up of rice. The other good thing I suppose is now Im ok with not being 100% raw its kind of funny -what Im eating (apart from last nights dinner) hasnt actually changed, I'm still pretty much eating 100% raw but knowing that if I wanted to make a hearty vegetable soup, or another warm pumpkin salad that thats ok makes me feel like I have many more options. It also has the fortunate side effect that its easier for me to go out for a meal (which we'll be doing next week and I was feeling nervous about it) and my husband (who bless his heart is trying to be supportive but is concerned that I wasnt eating anything cooked and felt perhaps I had lost my marbles) is much more comfortable with my eating now theres a possibility I will eat cooked food. That is really funny because apart from the rice and pumpkin last night I am actually still eating exactly the same but he seems even happier about it than I am.
Still happy!! And now finding I naturally wake up a cuple of hours earlier -I so used to be a night time person who struggled to get up before 8am, now Im awake at 6am, feed baby and instead of going back to bed Ive been getting up and doing yoga again, Im loving it!

I am trying the raw food diet but not 100% there. The difference in the way your body feels when it is cleansed free of all the junk is amazing. Discipline is the key.